


Helping

by peggy_hamilton



Series: Band Of Brothers Imagines [14]
Category: Band of Brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 02:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20351020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggy_hamilton/pseuds/peggy_hamilton
Summary: You're there to help Malarkey settle back into ordinary life after the war





	Helping

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my tumblr @justthinkingofwaystoavoidbusses
> 
> original request: Malarkey request where the reader helps him acclimatise back into civilian life after the war? Xxx - anon

1946

The war ended a year ago but Malarkey wasn’t sure what he was meant to be doing with his life. Back in the war he and Skip had always said after the war ended they’d live together and be each other’s wingmen and go out partying every weekend as their own fuck you to Sobel who cancelled all their weekend passes. Except now Skip was gone and all his other friends in the company had gone back to their homes, scattered all across America with their own families and lives.

He thought once or twice about calling a few of them up but he couldn’t bring himself to pick up the phone. What would have happened to them in a year? Those who survived the war may have already died, unexpected illness, freak accident. He couldn’t risk finding out about another one of his friends being possibly dead.

And what would he even say to them? He couldn’t go out for a drink and just pretend he was over everything, that he was over all those unnecessary deaths of good men. No, he couldn’t do that.

So he stayed in his small rented apartment and stared at the wall all day, hearing the radio in the background but not listening. He was going to the University of Oregon to finish up his degree, it was really the only reason that he left the house at all at this point.

He had a class there in an hour and he was psyching himself up to leave the relative safety of his home and go to class. It was a constant struggle, everywhere he went he saw people dying and the unhappiness in the world.

It was hard for him to stay asleep at night, now he was a light sleeper and woke at the slightest noise. That was the only way to survive at war. He woke up early as well, the army drilled that into him all the way back at Toccoa, he was awake all day and he still couldn’t sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes he thought he was back in Bastogne, or Hagenau, or Landsberg. It was hell.

—

You had moved to Oregon after the war had ended, originally you had lived in New York City but it had become flooded with soldiers returning home with nowhere else to go. You thought it had been crowded before but they made it worse. So you decided to move, a change of scenery was well overdue and Oregon was where your finger landed on the map of the US.

Once you were there you enrolled at the university and started taking classes to get a business degree. There was only a few other girls taking the class, most of the class were men, but you didn’t mind. You didn’t want to be a rich man’s housewife like your mother had wanted you to be, you wanted to make your own way in the world and a business degree was the way to do that.

The people in your class were all rather friendly and you fit in pretty well considering most of them knew each other from growing up in the same town. However, you did notice that in the back of the class there was a man who was always very quiet. He didn’t seem very loud and he had a thousand yard stare, you knew that he would have been one of the ones to fight in the war like most other men his age. It saddened you that he didn’t seem to have any friends in the class and you never saw him around town.

At the end of class you walked up to him while he was packing up his books and stood in front of his desk till he noticed you. When he did he looked shocked that you were there, “Can I help you?” he asked slowly.

You nodded, “Yeah, a couple of us were going to get some drinks. I was wondering if you wanted to come with us?” you offered.

He looked hesitant, “I don’t know, I’m busy.”

You raised your eyebrow at his outright lie, “C’mon, it’ll only be a short while. It’ll be some fun.”

Malarkey sighed and weighed up his options, he didn’t have anything else to do and liquor did sound promising. “Fine,” he relented with a nod of his head, “I’m Don.”

You smiled brightly, “Y/N,” you gave him your name.

He smiled politely at you but it didn’t reach his eyes, he followed after you as you led him to the local pub. You introduced all your friends but he didn’t remember any of their names, “So how long have you lived here?” you asked him, the two of you hung back from the rest of the group as you walked through the streets.

“My whole life,” Don shrugged, “You?”

“Just the past year, first place I saw on the map and I moved here,” you explained.

Don looked at you oddly, “What about your family, your friends?”

You shrugged, “I can’t live my life based on what other people are doing or not doing. I have to live my life for me, sure I miss my old friends but I’ve got new friends. Life keeps moving and it’s not gonna stop for me, I’m not one for waiting around for good things to happen. You gotta make it happen yourself.”

Don mulled over your words, “Good words to live by,” he cracked a small smile.

You grinned brightly over at him, “I think so, too.” You looked up and noticed that you had reached the pub, “We’re here.”

He held the door open for you and you ducked inside and flashed him a thankful smile, “What do you want? First round’s on me,” you told him.

Don shook his head, “No, I can pay, I couldn’t possibly–”

“It’s fine,” you cut him off with a smile, “It’s my turn to get first round. You can get it next time.”

You sauntered off to the bar and Malarkey tried not to panic. Next time. There would be a next time. He forced himself to relax and remember your earlier words, life moves on. He took a deep calming breath and settled into his seat, he listened to your friends laugh and talk among themselves now trying to pick out which name belonged to who.

He could do this, he could make new friends and he could put in an effort to move on from the war. You came back with a tray full of pints and handed them out, you passed him one and he took it gratefully taking a gulp. “Where do you live now?” you asked, shifting to face him.

“In an apartment on the end of 51st street,” he told you.

“No way that’s only two blocks from where I live,” you exclaimed, “How come I haven’t seen you around?”

“I, uh, don’t get out all that much,” he tried to say casually.

You frowned a little, “Well, I’m going to change that,” you promised to yourself. Throughout the night Malarkey was surprised to find that he was having fun, he didn’t join in the loud conversations you all were having but he listened and laughed along almost effortlessly. By the end of the night he had memorised all their names and faces: Rob was the tallest guy and had brown spiky hair, he was a few years younger than him; Jake was a shorter blonde guy who was always smoking; Annie was a sweet young girl who was obviously head over heels for Rob; Mariah was and outgoing brunette who flirted with the men passing the table for fun but he could see she had a good heart. Then there was you.

Even though you were better friends with the rest of the group you made sure you made him feel included, you asked about his family and his childhood. When he didn’t feel like talking you wouldn’t bat an eyelid and you would talk about anything and everything to fill the silence. He didn’t feel like he had to talk when he was with you for you to enjoy his company.

In fact, you liked that he was more reserved than the others. Don was a welcome change in your life and if you could do anything about it you would make sure that he would stop hiding away in his apartment.

—

After that night he didn’t have anymore classes for a few days and he was expecting to spend them holed up in his apartment. He had been up for half an hour when he heard a knock at his door, it was incredibly early so he was surprised to see you standing there smiling when he opened the door.

“What are you doing here?” he asked confused.

“I figured that you would be up by now and could use the company. Wanna go get some coffee?” you asked him.

“Sure,” he squinted, unsure as to why exactly you were here. He grabbed his coat and walked with you out of his apartment building. “Really, though, why are you here?”

You shrugged, “You seem kind of lonely so I came to give you company,” you explained simply. Truth was, you had received a letter from your cousin after he got back from the war and he talked about how he was always up early and all the challenges he was facing readjusting to life back home. He had gotten better now but it was clear to you that Don hadn’t, so even though you hated mornings you set your alarm early and set of to give him some company.

The two of you walked in a companionable silence to a coffee shop down the street and sat down in a small booth. You were the only ones there because it was so early but you didn’t mind it, both of you ordered a coffee which you desperately needed to wake you up.

Whilst you drank your coffee you talked about class and other safe subjects. You told him about a time when you were seven years old and had accidently put your grandfather’s car in gear and it rolled down a tree and crashed.

In turn he told you about when he had gone for a joy ride on an army motorbike before he was shipped off. You were surprised that he would talk about his time serving in any way but you didn’t mention it, it was good for him to talk about these things.

—

It became a routine, despite your hatred for mornings you got up bright and early every day and went down to see Don with a cheery smile on your face. Eventually, over the next few weeks you learnt more and more about his time serving. At first he only told you about things that happened in training and you made a mental note to remember all the names that he mentioned.

Then later on he sometimes told you about his time on the line. You knew he didn’t tell you half of what had really happened to him but you could see that talking about it all helped him. He smiled a bit more, he sat with you and your friends instead of at the back, when you would all go out he would even chip into the conversation every now and again.

He never expected that he would feel okay again, but one night all of you were down at the bar and for the first time in as long as he could remember Malarkey felt okay with everything. There was no underlying sadness or holding himself back, he was just enjoying the moment. What was even better was he didn’t feel guilty about not feeling sad, he realised that he shouldn’t have to feel sad all the time and his friends both dead and alive wouldn’t want that. It was in that moment he realised he had truly moved on with his life, and it was all thanks to you.


End file.
